Are you ready for festival season? If not, we have the perfect crochet top for you~! I went to NYC pride this year and wore my handmade crop top and it was amazing!
Hey everybody, Kate from Darn Good Yarn here. So I'm going to show you a really cool technique to thicken up, or, as I call it, chunk up some yarn. So I have some of our worsted weight yarn. And before I show you my trick, I just kind of want to show you what a regular, like, simple chain of this looks like so that when I show you the chunky version, you can actually see the difference. All right, so just one chain of our worsted weight yarn looks pretty much like this.
All right, so the first thing you have to do is you have to make an S. I always like to put my ball of yarn to my right. And then I will make a little S with my yarn. You bunch it together. And you make your knot with the working strand of yarn on your right side. And then you're going to make this, like, knot or any kind of knot really. You know, I'm not a big fan of slip knots. All right. Perfect. So you can see now we're going to have three strands of yarn. There's going to be the working strand and there's going to be this, like, little lasso. So I'll show you how it works. So I'm going to make a few quick chains. It's maybe a little tight because this crochet hook is a little too small for this thickness.
It was perfect for the plain worsted weight. But now that we're a little chunky, the first one might be a little tight. There we go. Now she's loosey goosey but as you can see, the chain is definitely chunkier. Look at that bad boy. Now, these three distinct strands, there's one working strand to catch the ball of yarn, and there's one like little lasso. So once you've gotten to the end of this, three strands to make more, you take your lasso, you're going to take a working yarn, and you're going to pull it through this pull it right through that little lasso Now, what you do is you're going to grab the lasso and kind of pull the yarn together. So you're making three strands of yarn again.
So essentially, while you are building up your project, you also have to stop every so often to put your yarn through that lasso to make more three stranded yarn or chunky art, as I like to call it. Here's a better view of the lasso. So you'll see one working strand attached to the ball of yarn or cake, whatever. And then you have the lasso. So to make more fingers through the lasso, pull the yarn on through and then squish it down here where you've ended the last lasso, you'll see like a little attachment. It does not affect the yarn at all. So remember those few stitches I showed you at the beginning, this is the same yarn.
But now this is with the thickening technique. So it's nice and thick and chunky. And again, once you get to like the end of your lasso, you can just push the yarn through Come on, buddy. Push the yarn through and tug. This would work better if I had a beautiful yarn bowl. Thankfully, I work at a place that makes yarn bowls and then you pull it down and then you have your three strands. I think it shows off the colors a lot better. Also, it shows off the sparkle a lot better. And that is pretty much it for my chunky yarn trick.
Let's Get Started!
Torso
Row 1: CO and CH 170
Row 2: SC 2 STSin for the whole chain (168 STS), CH 1 and turn
Row 3 - 13: Repeat row 2 for 10 rows
Row 14: SLST, CH 1, pull through, and knot.
Row 15: Add a stitch market on the 47th STS from the left AND the 47th STSfrom the right. This will be the main torso covering.
Row 16: CO yarn and slide your hook into the 47th STS on the right. SC to the 47th STSon the left, CH 2, turn and skip 2 STS
Row 17-42: Repeat row 16 for 25 rows.
Straps
Row 1: Starting from the end of the torso section of the top, SC 5 STS, turn, and repeat for 4 rows. SLST, CH 1, pull through, and knot.
Row 2: Repeat row 1 on the other side of the crop top.
Row 3: Using the 6.00 mm hook, thicken the yarn using our ‘chonking’ method and CH 90 . SLST into the last stitch, CH 1, pull through and knot.
Repeat row 3 4-6 times, depending on how many straps you’d like on your crop top.
With one of the long tails of your strands, weave the strands into the back of the crop top and secure it tightly OR add buttons. I would highly suggest using the button option! Leave the other side of the strap unattached- you will tie those to the top of the crop top when you put it on so you can adjust the tightness.
Meet the Author
Kate has been on the Darn Good Yarn team since 2018.
They have their degree in Creative Art Therapy & Psychology - and like crafting and animals a little too much.